Twenty-three apply for seat on School Board

By Emily Richmond

Friday, Sept. 16, 2005 | 9:50 a.m.

The Clark County School Board will have about two dozen candidates to consider as they prepare to choose a replacement for the District E seat, vacated in July by Denise Brodsky.

Twenty-three applications had been processed and the final list was being compiled by district staff.

The School Board plans to interview all of the applicants at an upcoming open meeting. Whoever is selected will serve until the next general election in fall 2006. The winner of that election will serve the remainder of Brodsky's original term, which expires in 2008.

Mary Ella Holloway, president of the Clark County Education Association, said she was pleased the number of applicants had swelled by 10 in the past two weeks.

"It's a very important job, but it's difficult and not financially rewarding," Holloway said. "It takes a lot of commitment on the part of people to do it.

The Clark County School District is the single largest recipient of tax dollars in the state and is also Nevada's largest employer. The School Board sets policy and oversees an annual operating budget of $1.8 billion. Its seven members are paid $80 per meeting.

Two applicants may have conflicts of interest: Xavier Trujillo, project facilitator for the the district's Mariachi Education Program, and longtime teacher Patricia Smith.

In 2000 a Nevada District Court judge ruled that teacher Randy Green would have to choose between his day job and serving on the Douglas County School Board, to which he had been elected. Green chose to continue teaching and did not press his case with the Nevada Supreme Court.

Trujillo said Thursday he agreed a conflict may exist and if appointed to the vacant seat he would resign from his district job.

"We have a great group of Mariachi teachers who are very capable and the program is going in the right direction," Trujillo said. "If I had to resign in order to be on the School Board and to give back to the community on a larger scale, that's something I'm prepared to do."

Smith could not be immediately reached for comment.

State statute allows individuals with spouses or other family members who are district employees to serve on school boards provided certain conditions are met. They are required to disclose the relationship and abstain from participating in discussions or votes on matters where the conflict of interest applies, such as contract negotiations.

Two applicants for the District E seat, engineer James Blink and insurance agent Tod Young, are married to Clark County School District teachers. Retired educator Bob Johns' daughter is a district teacher and his wife a retired high school counselor.

Former UNLV professor Craig Walton, who runs the Nevada Center for Public Ethics, said the relatively large number of applicants reflects the importance many people place on the quality of the county's education system.

"I don't think there's been a spike in personal ambition in the valley, it's more likely due to real concern about the schools," Walton said.

As for the interview process, Walton -- who spent six years on the Nevada School of Medicine's selection committee -- hoped each applicant would be given a chance to answer the same questions.